1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical procedure or action performed through a natural orifice of a living body. This invention comprises a new technique to hold an imaging capsule in the patient's lumen of abdominal cavity by means of a percutaneous manipulator placed through the abdominal wall.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case where a medical procedure (including observation, treatment, and the like, which is the same hereunder) is performed for a human organ and the like, there is known a laparoscopic operation for manipulating by opening a plurality of orifices in the abdominal wall, instead of largely incising the abdominal wall, and inserting a laparoscope, a forceps, and a scalpel into the respective orifices. The laparoscopic operation can be completed simply by opening small orifices in the abdomen, having an advantage of quick recovery of the patient.
However, recently, as a method of further reducing the burden on a patient, there is proposed a manipulation (or manipulation) performed by inserting a flexible endoscope from a natural orifice such as the mouth, a nostril, and the anus. An example of such a medical procedure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,131. A flexible endoscope is inserted from the mouth of a patient, and the endoscope is sent out from an orifice formed in the stomach wall into the abdominal cavity. The observation of the abdominal cavity is performed by an observation device provided at the distal end of the endoscope. Furthermore, an organ is treated by using a treatment tool passed through the endoscope, and a treatment tool inserted from another orifice opened in the stomach, or inserted from the anus through an orifice opened in the lower gastrointestinal tract, into the abdominal cavity. After the manipulation in the abdominal cavity is completed, the endoscope and treatment tool(s) are withdrawn, and the orifices are closed. Upon closure of an orifice, the tissue around the orifice is drawn together, and the tissue is bound up with an O-ring so as to close the orifice.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a medical procedure and a system where two visions are obtainable through natural orifices by means of two observational apparatuses, or one the two visions is selectable.
Video imaging capsules are commonly used to view the interior of the GI tract, particularly the lumen of the small intestine. The imaging capsule is swallowed by the patient and carried by peristalsis through the stomach and intestines, collecting and transmitting images of the patient's GI tract to an external recorder.
It is now common to image the abdominal cavity by means of a laparoscope, a tubular optical instrument placed into the abdominal cavity through a stab incision in the patient's abdominal wall. Typically the laparoscope is inserted into a lumen of the abdominal cavity via a trocar, a hollow tubular instrument designed to create a passageway through the abdominal wall for the introduction of laparoscopes, probes and therapeutic devices, and often incorporating a means to inject or hold gas within the abdominal cavity for insufflation.
Another object of the present invention is to replace the viewing function of the laparoscope with a self-contained imaging capsule which is held in place by a percutaneous manipulator. Another object of the present invention to provide a percutaneous manipulator having a means for controlling the direction of capsule maintained in the lumen of the abdominal cavity.